Oklahoma Wins Game 1 of the College World Series Final Over North Carolina
Game one of the College World Series final is in the books as the Oklahoma Sooners move within one more win of their third national championship in program history. It was the ninth win in a row for the Sooners, dating back to the third game of their regional as they remain undefeated in Omaha. They won on Saturday by a score of 9-3 over the Tar Heels, dominating in every facet of the game that has gotten them this far.
The bats got off to a hot start in this one as they put two runs on the board in the first inning via a two-run home run off the bat of Deiten Lachance. It was the 17th home run of the season for the big, junior catcher, his sixth of the postseason, and second in Omaha since rolling his ankle in the very first inning of their first game against Alabama. What he has been able to provide after it looked like his World Series run could have ended prematurely is astounding.
With freshman Cord Rager on the mound for the Sooners, North Carolina battled back in the bottom half of the first, answering with three runs of their own. They opened with four consecutive hits - a Jake Schaffner single, an Owen Hull double, a Gavin Gallaher single that drove in two to tie the game, and an Erik Paulsen double that nearly left the yard to put the Tar Heels up one. For Hull and Gallaher, they both extended their hit streaks that have lasted for the entire NCAA tournament, solidifying themselves as the most dynamic 1-2 punch in the tournament. The two have now combined for 36 hits dating back to North Carolina’s first game against VCU.
Early on, it looked like the moment could have been too big for the freshman Rager, something I mentioned as a concern in my preview of this series. Rager’s stuff didn’t appear to be as sharp as it was in his stellar outing against Alabama in their opener, and the Tar Heel bats were forcing him into the strike zone where they were hammering him early. Fortunately for Rager, he would start locating the fastball with more finesse and would gain more feel for his secondaries as he settled in.
Jason DeCaro, North Carolina’s starter in this one, also looked like he was settling in after the Deiten Lachance home run in the first. He struck out the two hitters that followed to end the inning and then held the Sooners scoreless in the second. In the third, Lachance would come to the plate again, and with two outs, he climbed the ladder with two strikes to send a DeCaro fastball above the zone beyond the left field wall for his 18th home run of the season and second of the game.
In the fourth inning in a tie game, Oklahoma would break through against DeCaro. With runners on second and third with one out, DeCaro managed to strike out Dayton Tockey, bringing Kyle Branch to the plate who had been hitless in Omaha to this point. With two strikes, Branch shot a single up the middle to drive in two, giving Oklahoma a lead they would not relinquish. Branch would steal second and advance to third on a wild pitch before Jason Walk hit a screamer to the shortstop Jake Schaffner who couldn’t come up with the play as the ball bounced into center field, extending Oklahoma’s lead to 6-3. That would end DeCaro’s day as the Tar Heels turned to sophomore right-hander Walker McDuffie for some length in hopes he could keep the North Carolina bats in the game. With Camden Johnson at the plate, Jason Walk would steal second before Johnson sent a single to right field, scoring Walk, and extending the lead to four runs. That would close the line on DeCaro’s day as he finished with seven earned runs on seven hits, one walk, and six strikeouts across 3.2 innings of work. All four runs for Oklahoma in the fourth came with two outs after the Tar Heels were one strike away from escaping the inning with the score still tied.
While the game wasn’t out of reach for North Carolina, the arms of Oklahoma gave the Tar Heels very little chance of climbing back in this one. Cord Rager managed to complete five innings despite the fact that it looked like it was going to be an early hook for him after the shaky first inning. After the first, he only surrendered four more base runners via one hit, one walk, and two hit batters with four strikeouts. Juniors Gavyn Jones and LJ Mercurius closed the final four innings for the Sooners, combining for four scoreless innings, allowing just two hits and two walks on six strikeouts. Following the first inning, the big bats of Hull and Gallaher were held hitless in their final seven at-bats as Jake Schaffner was the only Tar Heel hitter with multiple hits, finishing the day 3-5.
The Sooners would put two more on the board before this one was over. A Jason Walk single in the sixth drove in one and then a Jaxon Willits groundout in the ninth pushed across the final run of the game. After McDuffie threw 2.1 innings out of relief, Tom Chmielewski and Cameron Padgett covered the final three innings as North Carolina saved Caden Glauber and Jackson Rose, their two other talented relievers, for games two and three. Oklahoma’s lineup finished with 14 hits on the day as each of the first four hitters in the order logged multi-hit games. Dasan Harris out of the seven hole had a three hit game of his own as well.
Game two gets started at 2 PM ET on Sunday as the freshman right-hander Xander Mercurius will be on the mound for the Sooners looking to close out this series. Sophomore right-hander Ryan Lynch will go for the Tar Heels to keep their season alive. I forecasted that it takes Oklahoma three games to win this series, so I expect the bats of North Carolina to get to the inexperienced Mercurius at some point while the star power on North Carolina’s pitching staff manages to slow down the Oklahoma offense.
